Maredo
Explore the grills of the world with live music in the background.
Behind the Cibona tower on Savska Street, down a little alleyway between buildings, you will find Maredo, one of the renowned grilled meat places in Zagreb. Maredo recently had a complete makeover from a grill house to a fine dining barbecue concept with an impressive glass roof interior. The upper floor now boasts an elegant private event room with a huge granite table with high chairs, accommodating parties of 15 to 20 for special events.
Following the elegant interior, the kitchen concept changed completely as well. Maredo owners hired a new chef, Mario Mihelj, who wanted to build upon the great history of the place and has since brought and experimented with grilling and open-fire cooking techniques from all over the world. Maredo now grills meat, fish, and vegetables using a Kopa oven, a Green egg, and two lava ovens. Everything comes out smokier and tastier, flavored by North Africa, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean.
Maredo is not just a restaurant, it is a great, trendy place to go for a night out, with DJs playing eclectic dance music and waiters happily serving you until 4 in the morning.
What is served
Maredo is a place for meat lovers. They have their dry agers, so all of their steak cuts go to the cook in prime condition. Guests can choose between Ribeye, T-bone, Tomahawk, and French rack cuts. Their Beef tartare is widely recognized. For those not into beef, Maredo prepares juicy lamb chops and pork filets stuffed with mozzarella and basil pesto.
Specials include Beef Wellington and Spanish suckling pig for six people.
The fish section starts with Capelunge tartar, Fettuccine with smoked mussels and scallops, and for the main course, a Ponzu tuna marinated with carrots confit in milk with ginger, anise, and wasabi powder, smoked swordfish salad, and Grilled Glazed Cod.
Vegetarians can enjoy Homemade gnudi and baked eggplant; celery steak sous vide with roasted tomato cream, young salad, and crispy pumpkin balls.
The wine list is ample, with a good selection of red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines from different regions of Croatia, as well as foreign wines.
What we had
For starters, we tried homemade ricotta cheese on taleggio cheese cream, with lime, hazelnuts, and sweet cream with charcoal and miso. The other appetizer was baked eggplant prepared in a Kopa oven at 300 degrees, served on a chickpea and mint hummus with homemade tzatziki.
For the mains, we tried the lamb chops prepared on a lava grill with burnt rosemary, smoked eggplant, chickpea hummus, and Béarnaise sauce—a true symphony of flavors, with lamb nicely pink in the middle and perfectly soft.
Since this is mostly meat kind of place, we had a French rack, marinated with lemon and thyme, then grilled in a Kopa oven at 250°. Soft, full of juices and flavors, professionally sliced into nice, thick slices. Just perfect.
An entire dinner for 2 people, including a bottle of wine, cost us 150 euros.
